Orbital Sander – STIHL

The Stihl Orbital Sander was made to supply a design tool that does not currently exist in the STIHL catalog, but that is functional and represents characteristics of the STIHL brand. This project was headed by professors Claudio Monterrubio and Christiam Mendoza.

Creation of the Orbital Sander was based on a product analysis to identify the needs of the potential user base.

Based on the characteristics of STIHL products and the design requirements a concept was developed for the design of an orbital sander. This led directly to preliminary design sketches and the selection of a final design. Over a hundred sketches were used to create the final design.

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For this project, an existing orbital sander was purchased and the internal components were rearranged to fit the new design. First, all the internal components of the purchased sander were modeled on CAD software (Solid Works), which ensured a functioning internal mechanism for the new design. Based on the layout of the internal components, the body of the sander was modeled. The new body had to support the interior components, such as the motor, buttons, and power cord, as well as having to conform to the design requirements from the user investigation.

The body of the orbital sander was printed with ABS plastic, which was chosen for its durability. Afterward, a finishing treatment of sanding, resurfacing and painting was given to the body. This process was repeated several times to give the body a finished, polished look. The upper body was then painted with STIHL’s characteristic orange color, and for a non-slip design, the black matte paint was used on the handle. The letters of the STIHL logo were detailed by hand in black paint, and the bottom part of the sander was painted in matte white paint. The dust collector was painted in matte black.

The final part of the process consisted of assembling the different parts. This was aided by using an expanded view of the parts as a guide.